Abhanga 2843
If a courtesan, a great sinner, a stone woman, a disfigured woman, and even the earth were all saved by the Lord's name or touch, your own redemption cannot be too hard to reach.
The verse
गाऊं नेणें परी मी कांहीं गाईंन । शरण जाईंन पांडुरंगा ॥१॥
ब्रम्हांडनायक मी त्याचा अंकित । काय यमदूत करिती काळ ॥ध्रु.॥
वश्या ज्याच्या नामें तारिली गणिका । अजामेळासारिखा पापरासीं ॥२॥
चरणींच्या रजें अहिल्या तारिली । रूपवंत केली कुबजा क्षणें ॥३॥
पृथिवी तारिली पाताळासी जातां । तुका म्हणे आतां आम्ही किती ॥४॥
Literal translation
Gāūm neṇe parī mī kāmhī gāīna — (I) don't know how to sing — but I'll sing something; śaraṇa jāīna Pāṇḍurangā — (I) will take śaraṇa at Pāṇḍuranga. Brahmāṇḍa-nāyaka mī tyāñcā ankita — (He is) thebrahmāṇḍa-nāyaka(cosmos-lord), I am hisankita(bondsman, marked-one); kāya yama-dūta karitī kāḷa — what can Yama-dūtas,kāḷa(Time) do? Vaśyā jyāñcyā nāme tārilī gaṇikā — (those) by whose Name thegaṇikā(courtesan) (calledVaśyā— the famous-Vaiśyā/Pingaḷā?) was saved; Ajāmīḷa-sārikhā pāpa-rāśī — (and saved) thepāpa-rāśi(heap-of-sin) like Ajāmīḷa. Charaṇīñcyā rajē Ahilyā tārilī — by thecharaṇīñcyā rajē(feet-dust), Ahilyā was saved; rūpavantī kelī Kubjā kṣaṇe — Kubjā was maderūpavantī(beautiful) in akṣaṇa(moment). Prthivī tārilī pātāḷāsī jātām — (the)prthivī(earth) was saved (when she was) going topātāḷa; Tukā says: ātām āmhī kitī — now what are we (in comparison)?
What it means
A canonical 5-verse bhakti-redemption-confidence verse. The verse names five canonical redemption-stories and concludes with if-they-were-saved-what-of-us?
Opening humility: gāūm neṇe parī mī kāmhī gāīna — śaraṇa jāīna Pāṇḍurangā — I don't know how to sing — but I'll sing something — I will take śaraṇa at Pāṇḍuranga. The opening kavi-vinaya (poet's humility) + śaraṇāgati.
Dhrūpada: brahmāṇḍa-nāyaka mī tyāñcā ankita — kāya yama-dūta karitī kāḷa — brahmāṇḍa-nāyaka, I am his ankita — what can Yama-dūtas, kāḷa do? The bhakta is ankita (bondsman, marked-as-his) of the cosmos-lord; therefore Yama-dūtas (death's-messengers) cannot touch.
The redemption-list (5 stories): 1. Vaśyā/Pingaḷā the gaṇikā: a courtesan who-was-saved (perhaps the Pingaḷā of Bhāgavata) 2. Ajāmīḷa: the canonical pāpa-rāśī — saved-by-calling-Nārāyaṇa-while-calling-his-son-Nārāyaṇa at death (Bhāgavata 6.1-3) 3. Ahilyā: the stone-woman saved-by-the-feet-dust of Rāma (Rāmāyaṇa) 4. Kubjā: the hunch-backed woman made rūpavantī (beautiful) instantly by Krṣṇa (Bhāgavata 10.41-42) 5. Prthivī: the earth saved-from-pātāḷa by Varāha-avatāra (Bhāgavata 3.13)
Close: Tukā mhaṇe ātām āmhī kitī — now what are we (in comparison)? The diagnostic-question: if-these-five-have-been-saved by your-Name and feet-dust, what is the difficulty for us-now-living?
The list pairs with 2787's Ajāmīḷa-Bhillī-Kuṇṭanī-Vālmīka redemption-list. Together they form the Tukārām canonical-bhakti-redemption-corpus.
For someone today
This is a song that builds confidence in devotion by pointing to precedent. Tuka begins with humility — I don't know how to sing, but I'll sing something, and take refuge in Panduranga. He belongs to the Lord of the whole cosmos, so what can death's messengers or time itself do to him? Then he lists five people the Lord has already saved: a courtesan, the great sinner Ajamila, the stone woman Ahilya freed by the dust of his feet, the disfigured Kubja made beautiful in an instant, and even the earth itself rescued when it was sinking into the underworld. If all of them were saved, Tuka asks, then what are we, by comparison? This is a song to recite whenever you feel too sinful, too broken, or too unskilled to even begin — if these five could be redeemed, so can you.
मराठी: ही भक्तीतील आत्मविश्वास वाढवणारी, पूर्वदाखल्यांवर आधारित रचना आहे. तुकाराम महाराज नम्रतेने सुरुवात करतात — मला गाणे येत नाही, तरी मी काहीतरी गाईन आणि पांडुरंगाला शरण जाईन. मी त्या ब्रह्मांडनायकाचा आहे, मग यमदूत किंवा काळ माझे काय करणार? मग ते पाच जणांची उदाहरणे देतात, ज्यांना परमेश्वराने आधीच तारले — एक गणिका, महापापी अजामेळ, चरणधुळीने तरलेली अहिल्या, क्षणात सुरूप झालेली कुब्जा, आणि पाताळात जाणारी पृथ्वीदेखील. जर हे सर्व तरले, तर तुकाराम विचारतात, मग आपण किती? हे गीत तेव्हा म्हणावे जेव्हा आपल्याला वाटते की आपण खूपच पापी, तुटलेले किंवा अकुशल आहोत — कारण जर हे पाच तरू शकले, तर आपणही तरू शकतो.
Where this applies
- When you feel too sinful or unworthy to even begin praying
- When you doubt whether devotion can really change a life as messed up as yours
- When you compare your failures to others and conclude you are beyond help
- When you hesitate to start a practice because you feel unskilled or inadequate at it